Thursday, October 18, 2012

Getting the Grand Tour

UPDATE:The Episcopal Church has released an incredibly defensive PR piece "explaining" why members of the activist group "Episcopal Forum" was formed to go after Bishop Lawrence (so fascinating that there is a paragraph saying that well, yes, the little Episcopal Forum group does belong to the Episcopal Forum but no, it's not the Episcopal Forum - even though this is why the Episcopal Forum was formed in the first place, it's not a knitting club). Every evangelical or traditional diocese in The Episcopal Church has/had an activist group formed just like the South Carolina version of Episcopal Forum to do exactly this sort of thing - it wasn't a secret. It is necessary for their litigation strategy to set up a shadow diocese, take the evangelical or Anglo Catholic bishop out and still be home in time for dinner. What was once deemed audacious is now old hat. It's not like it's a new thing - it's not a new thing. The activists keep doing the same thing over and over again. But why release a defensive piece so quickly this time? What's up with that?

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Here at the Cafe much of the table chat focuses on the uproarious actions of the Episcopal Church this week toward the people of the Diocese of South Carolina and their twice-freely elected bishop. Let's just say it's not going unnoticed. And perhaps that's what the leadership of The Episcopal Church wants.

Well, until it backfires.

Faced with enormous challenges this week of crumbling structural integrity, membership falloff, and and budget shortfalls, one might need to find a way to re-energize the base.

Oddly enough, as Mark Lawrence gets his handy packet in the mail, the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church is getting the grand tour in Manhattan - yes, right here at the illustrious penthouse and offices of the Presiding Bishop herself, the very same penthouse and offices the House of Deputies voted this past summer to put on the block.